Bharat Electronics showcases $75 solar-powered Android tablet

India-based Bharat Electronics Limited has announced the development of a $75 solar-powered tablet. The company has been able to design, manufacture and ship 2000 sample tablets in less than five months. Maintaining an approach to low cost computing, these tablets will be much handy in power deficit rural areas. BEL, a leading manufacturer of radars and communication equipments for the defense department in India, has bagged this order from the Ministry of Rural Development of India. The Managing Director and Chairman of BEL, Ashwani Kumar Dutt, was proud to announce the launching of solar powered tablets within a record low time period.

Running Android 2.2, this tablet is equipped with a solar powered power back up and will allow data storage through a cloud based server. The tablet will store data to the central server running on a solar powered battery. The tablet comes in a decent leather pouch with a keyboard connected through a cable. Other specifications have not yet been disclosed, but it seems that this $75 Android tablet is practically viable than the previous $35 Sakshat tablet, launched by Kapil Sibal. The subsidized $35 tablet released by Indian HRD ministry could not gain steam owing to its manufacturing cost and features.

Tablet manufacturing is picking up in India, and this Android tablet has been designed indigenously to create waves in the market. Other factors like running capacity of the tablet, durability and maintenance are to be considered as these are specially meant for the economically backward class. The tablet may not be modish in appearance, but will surely serve the purpose.

BEL has targeted to release 600,000 tablets by this November that will boost its revenue significantly through this first civilian order. Given the falling prices of tablets in the world, this cheaply priced and indigenously built Android tablet is ready to take on any low priced tablet in the international market. The price and customization facilities may pose few challenges to BEL in the future, but this has been a commendable achievement for the organization to manufacture 2000 solar powered tablets within a record time.

BEL has taken up this project with a long term vision, as it spent about $1.5 million in creating additional facilities to produce modernized versions of solar powered tablets for the students. Although, this tablet is not available for the masses, but BEL is not ruling out the possibility of manufacturing for the commoners in future.